Slide fastener slider for easy mounting of a pull tab

ABSTRACT

A joiner and a slide fastener slider incorporated with the joiner includes a slider body having an upper wing and a lower wing connected by a neck to define a channel for insertion of a slide fastener. A lug is integrally formed on the upper wing with a gap between the lug and the upper wing for the insertion of a pull tab. A joiner has a locking arm inserted into a bore of the upper wing. A spring piece and a pair of positioning legs are formed at one end of the joiner, and a pair of position-defining arms is formed at an opposite end of the joiner. A pair of inverse hooks is formed on the pair of position-defining arms. The lug includes a recess for receiving the spring piece, and a pair of recesses for receiving the pair of positioning legs. A position-defining element provided on the lug for limiting the displacement of the pair of position-defining arms.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Hong Kong Short Term Patent Application No. 09100802.9, filed on Jan. 23, 2009, the content of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to a joiner and a slide fastener slider incorporated with the joiner for easy mounting of a pull tab.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The existing slide fastener sliders include two parts, namely, a pull tab and a slider body, wherein the pull tab is always fixedly mounted to the slider and thus cannot be mounted at will according to users' demand. However, with human's endless pursuit for an easy life and for various other reasons, there has been a need to mount the pull tab to the slider by the users themselves, that is, after-manufacture and/or after-market installation of the pull tab. To this end, different types of sliders have been designed to meet this need, such as the slide fastener sliders disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,638; 4,624,032 and 5,551,129. However, these designs have issues with complicated structures, low production efficiency and high manufacturing costs. As a result, these slide fastener sliders have not been commonly acceptable in the field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present application is to provide a slide fastener slider having a simple structure which can be easily manufactured with low cost and which enables a user to easily mount the pull tab on the slider.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a simple joiner for coupling to a lug on the slider of a slide fastener for easy after-manufacture and after-market installation of the pull tab to the slider. The jointer having a proximal end and distal end is a single piece (preferably made of a single piece of metal sheet), easily manufactured with lost production costs, which comprises

-   -   (a) a spring piece at the proximal end,     -   (b) an inverse hook positioned towards the distal end,     -   (c) a locking arm positioned towards the proximal end,     -   (d) a plurality of positioning arms, wherein the inverse hook         and the locking arm define a recess with an opening, the spring         piece applies a spring force biased in urging the inverse hook         towards the surface of the upper wing so that the opening of the         recess is facing the surface of the upper wing and forming a         closure for retaining a pull tab once inserted, and the inverse         hook is operably movable away from the surface of the upper wing         against the spring force upon receiving a force upon the distal         end of the joiner in the direction from the distal end to the         proximal end and thereby opens the closure for insertion of a         pull tab.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a slide fastener slider comprising:

a slider body having an upper wing and a lower wing, the upper wing and the lower wing being connected by a neck so as to define a channel for the insertion of a slide fastener, a lug being integrally formed on a top surface of the upper wing at one end near the neck and extending towards an opposite end to form a gap between the lug and the upper wing for the insertion of slider-pulling member, and a bore provided on the upper wing;

a joiner being made from a single metal sheet and configured to mount to the slider body, the joiner having a locking arm formed at a middle portion and inserted into the bore of the upper wing, a spring piece and a pair of positioning legs being formed at one end of the joiner, and a pair of position-defining arms being formed at an opposite end of the joiner, a pair of inverse hooks being formed on the pair of position-defining arms respectively and extended towards the locking arm, a semi-enclosed recess being formed between one of the position-defining arms and the locking arm for holding the slider-pulling member;

the lug further having a recess provided at one end near the neck for receiving the spring piece, and a pair of recesses provided on two opposite sides of the spring-piece recess for receiving the pair of positioning legs respectively, and a position-defining element provided at an opposite end of the lug for limiting the displacement of the pair of position-defining arms as the joiner pivots about the pair of positioning legs between a normally closed position where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the upper wing and an open position where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the position-defining element of the lug.

According to one embodiment, the lug comprises a generally U-shaped portion defining an opening end and a closed end, and the joiner is coupled to the lug through the opening end.

According to one embodiment, the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of slots provided on the lug, and the pair of slots has two opening ends facing the upper wing for receiving the two position-defining arms of the joiner respectively, and two closed ends for limiting the movement of the pair of position-defining arms respectively.

According to one embodiment, the joiner is snap-fitted onto the lug through the opening end of the U-shaped portion.

According to one embodiment, the slider body comprises a pair of position-defining projections provided on the top surface of the upper wing on both sides of the bore respectively for limiting the movement of the pair of inverse hooks.

According to one embodiment, the lug is in the form of a solid lug, and the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of projections projecting outwardly from two opposite sides of one end of the solid lug opposite to the neck.

According to one embodiment, the joiner is snap-fitted onto and substantially covering the lug.

According to one embodiment, the semi-enclosed recess is generally C-shaped.

According to one embodiment, the slider-pulling member is a pull tab having a handle portion and a transverse rod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Specific embodiments of the slide fastener slider will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a slider body according to a first embodiment in the present application;

FIG. 2 is another exploded perspective view of the slider body of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is yet another exploded perspective view of the slider body of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the slider body of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5-7 are illustrative diagrams of the slider body and the pull tab when they are being assembled;

FIG. 8 is an illustrative diagram of the motion of pull tab after the slider body and the pull tab are assembled;

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a slider body according to a second embodiment in the present application;

FIG. 10 is another exploded perspective view of the slider body of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is yet another exploded perspective view of the slider body of FIG. 9.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be made to the descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and to described preferred embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show a slide fastener slider for easy mounting of a pull tab according to a first embodiment in the present application. The slide fastener slider includes a slider body 11 and a pull tab 34, as shown in FIG. 5. The pull tab 34 includes a handle and a transverse rod 34 a, which can be easily mounted to the slider body 11, as illustrated in FIGS. 5-8.

As shown in FIGS. 1-4, the slider body 11 comprises an upper wing 12, a lower wing 13 and a joiner 29. The upper wing 12 and the lower wing 13 are connected by a neck 14 at one end so as to define a channel 15 for the insertion of a conventional slide fastener (not shown). A generally arch-shaped lug 16 extends from one end of the upper wing 12 near the neck 14 towards the other end over a top surface of the upper wing 12. The lug 16 can be integrally formed with the upper wing 12 at the end near the neck 14. A gap 17 is formed at the other end above the top surface of the upper wing 12 to allow insertion of the transverse rod 34 a of the pull tab 34.

An elongated bore 22 is provided at the gap 17 under the lug 16 for the insertion of a locking arm 27 of the joiner 29. A pair of position-defining projections 23 a, 23 b is provided on the two opposite sides of the bore 22. Three recesses 32 a, 32 b and 18 are provided near the end of the lug 16 where the lug 16 is integrally formed on the top surface of the upper wing 12. The recess 18 at the outermost end is a spring-piece recess for receiving a spring piece 25 of the joiner 29. The two recesses 32 a and 32 b provided on the left and right sides of the recess 18 respectively are both positioning-leg recesses for receiving two positioning legs 33 a and 33 b of the joiner 29 respectively. The joiner 29 can be securely mounted to the lug 16 by means of the resilience generated between the two positioning legs 33 a and 33 b and the corresponding positioning-leg recesses 32 a and 32 b.

The lug 16 can have a U-shaped portion defining an opening end 20 and a closed end. The joiner 29 is mounted to the lug 16 through the opening end 20. The joiner 29 can be snap-fitted onto the lug 16 through the opening end 20 of the U-shaped portion of the lug 16. Two slots 26 a and 26 b are provided on the closed end of the U-shaped portion of the lug 16. The two slots 26 a and 26 b have two opening ends facing the gap 17 for receiving the two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b of the joiner 29 respectively, and two closed ends for limiting the movement of the two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b respectively. The displacement of the two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b can be limited with the cooperation of the two position-defining projections 23 a and 23 b.

The joiner 29 can be formed from a single metal sheet by cutting and stamping processes. The locking arm 27 for zipping and unzipping a slide fastener (not shown) in the channel 15 is formed generally in a middle portion of the joiner 29. The spring piece 25 is formed at one end of the joiner 29, referred to herewith as the proximal end. The spring piece 25 is configured to be receivable within the spring-piece recess 18 of the lug 16. The positioning legs 33 a and 33 b are formed on both sides of the spring piece 25. The positioning legs 33 a and 33 b are configured to be receivable within the positioning-leg recesses 32 a and 32 b of the lug 16 respectively.

The two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b, which can be inserted into the slots 26 a and 26 b of the lug 16 and positioned between the position-defining projections 23 a and 23 b of the lug 16, are formed at the opposite end of joiner 29, referred to herewith as the distal end. A pair of position-defining angles 30 a and 30 b and a pair of inverse hooks 28 a and 28 b are formed on the outer and inner ends of the pair of position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b respectively. The pair of position-defining angles 30 a and 30 b can be received by and abutted against the closed ends of the two slots 26 a and 26 b respectively. The pair of inverse hooks 28 a and 28 b can be received by and abutted against the pair of position-defining projections 23 a and 23 b respectively.

The joiner 29 can pivot about the pair of positioning legs 33 a and 33 b between a normally closed position, as illustrated in FIG. 5, where the pair of inverse hooks 28 a and 28 b is in contact with the pair of position-defining projections 23 a and 23 b provided on the upper wing 12, and an open position, as illustrated in FIG. 6, where the pair of position-defining angles 30 a and 30 b is in contact with the closed ends of the two slots 26 a and 26 b of the lug 16 respectively. The displacement of the two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b can therefore be limited and the pivotal movement of the joiner 29 about the positioning legs 33 a and 33 b can be further controlled. The resilience of the joiner 29 can be generated by the pressing of the spring piece 25 against the spring-piece recess 18.

As shown in FIG. 5, the slide fastener slider of the present application can allow free entry of the transverse rod 34 a of the pull tab 34 into the gap 17 between the lug 16 and the upper wing 12. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the joiner 29 can be pushed upwards by the transverse rod 34 a. After the pull tab 34 is pushed into a C-shaped recess 31 formed between one of the two position-defining arms 35 a and 35 b and the locking arm 27, the joiner 29 returns to its original closed position by the resilience of the spring piece 25 of the joiner 29, as illustrated in FIG. 7. During the use of the slider, as shown in FIG. 8, the zipping and unzipping functions of the slide fastener can be realized by the pull tab 34. Thus, the user's demand of easy mounting the pull tab 34 to the slider body 11 can be met.

Although it has been shown that the pull tab 34 has a handle portion and a transverse rod 34 a, it is appreciated that the pull tab to be inserted can be any slider-pulling member so long as it has a portion insertable through the gap 17 of the slider body 11 and retainable by the C-shaped recess 31 in the closed position. This allows a user to insert the slider-pulling member by himself/herself and change to another slider-pulling member if desired.

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 show a slider body 11′ of a slide fastener slider for easy mounting of a pull tab according to a second embodiment in the present application. The second embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment, and the similar parts are denoted by the same reference numerals with a prime.

The difference between the first and second embodiments is that the U-shaped portion formed with an opening end 20 in the middle of the lug 16 is replaced by a solid lug 16′ without any opening end. Two projecting projections 36 a and 36 b are integrally formed and projecting outwardly from two opposite sides at one end of the solid lug 16′ opposite to the neck 14. The dimension of the bore 22′ provided on the upper wing 12′ is increased such that the joiner 29′ can substantially cover the solid lug 16′. The two position-defining arms 35 a′ and 35 b′ are formed at the end of the joiner 29′ opposite to the neck 14 and are directly positioned in the gap 17′ between the projections 36 a and 36 b and the top surface of the upper wing 12′. The locking arm 27 at the middle of the joiner 29′ is directly inserted into the bore 22′ such that the pivotal movement of the joiner 29′ can be controlled.

While there have been described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a couple of preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the embodiment illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention 

1. A joiner having a proximal end and a distal end, being coupled to a lug on a surface of an upper wing of a slider body of a slide fastener, and comprising (a) a spring piece at the proximal end, (b) an inverse hook towards the distal end, (c) a locking arm towards the proximal end, (d) a plurality of positioning arms, wherein the inverse hook and the locking arm define a recess with an opening, the spring piece applies a spring force biased in urging the inverse hook towards the surface of the upper wing so that the opening of the recess is facing the surface of the upper wing and forming a closure for retaining a pull tab once inserted, and the inverse hook is operably movable away from the surface of the upper wing against the spring force upon receiving a force upon the distal end of the joiner in the direction from the distal end to the proximal end and thereby opens the closure for insertion of a pull tab.
 2. The joiner of claim 1, which is formed from a single piece of metal sheet.
 3. The joiner of claim 2, which defines a pair of inverse hooks.
 4. The joiner of claim 3, wherein the positioning arms comprise a pair of positioning legs at the proximal end in proximity of the spring piece and a pair of position-defining arms at the distal end in proximity of the inverse hooks.
 5. The joiner of claim 4, wherein the locking arm extends into the slider body through a bore defined on the surface of the upper wing.
 6. A slide fastener slider comprising: a slider body having an upper wing and a lower wing, the upper wing and the lower wing being connected by a neck so as to define a channel for insertion of a slide fastener, a lug being integrally formed on a top surface of the upper wing at one end near the neck and extending towards an opposite end to form a gap between the lug and the upper wing for insertion of a slider-pulling member, and a bore defined on the upper wing; a joiner being made from a single metal sheet and configured to mount to the slider body, the joiner having a locking arm formed at a middle portion and inserted into the bore of the upper wing, a spring piece and a pair of positioning legs being formed at one end of the joiner, and a pair of position-defining arms being formed at an opposite end of the joiner, a pair of inverse hooks being formed on the pair of position-defining arms respectively and extended towards the locking arm, a recess being formed between one of the inverse hooks and the locking arm for holding the slider-pulling member; the lug further having a recess provided at one end near the neck for receiving the spring piece, and a pair of recesses defined on two opposite sides of the spring-piece recess for receiving the pair of positioning legs respectively, and a position-defining element provided at an opposite end of the lug for limiting the displacement of the pair of position-defining arms as the joiner pivots about the pair of positioning legs between a normally closed position urged by the spring piece where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the upper wing and an open position where the pair of position-defining arms is in contact with the position-defining element of the lug.
 7. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, wherein the lug comprises a generally U-shaped portion defining an opening end and a closed end, and the joiner is coupled to the lug through the opening end.
 8. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, wherein the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of slots defined on the lug, and each of the slots has an open end and close end, the open end facing the upper wing for receiving the position-defining arm of the joiner, and the close end for limiting the movement of the position-defining arm.
 9. The slide fastener slider according to claim 7, wherein the joiner is snap-fitted onto the lug through the opening end of the U-shaped portion.
 10. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, further comprising a pair of position-defining projections provided on the top surface of the upper wing on both sides of the bore respectively for limiting the movement of the pair of inverse hooks.
 11. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, wherein the lug is in the form of a solid lug, and the position-defining element is in the form of a pair of projections projecting outwardly from two opposite sides of one end of the solid lug opposite to the neck.
 12. The slide fastener slider according to claim 11, wherein the joiner is snap-fitted onto and substantially covering the solid lug.
 13. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, wherein the recess formed between one of the inverse hooks and the locking arm is generally C-shaped.
 14. The slide fastener slider according to claim 6, wherein the slider-pulling member is a pull tab having a handle portion and a transverse rod.
 15. The slide fastener slider according to claim 14, wherein the pull tab defines a bore allowing the inverse hook to pass through.
 16. The slide fastener slider according to claim 14, wherein the pull tab provides a side for applying an insertion force onto the inverse hooks or the position-defining arms to cause a movement of the joiner towards an open position and away from an close position urged by the spring piece. 